KENNEWICK — The Peninsula Pirates claimed their school’s first women’s basketball conference title with an 85-75 win over the Lane Titans in the Northwest Athletic Conference championship game at the Toyota Center on Tuesday night.
The Pirates followed their familiar script of wearing the opponent down and pulling away in the final 10 minutes.
Lane led 53-46 before Madison Pilster and Miranda Schmillen hit back-to-back 3-pointers for Peninsula and Imani Smith added two free throws to put the Pirates up 54-53 with nine minutes remaining in the game.
Peninsula added to its lead thereafter, thanks in large part to 6 of 12 shooting from 3-point range after halftime.
Schmillen finished with 21 points, nine rebounds and six assists, all of which were team-highs.
Pilster recorded 18 points and five rebounds, and after the game she was named tournament MVP.
Point guard Imani Smith scored 14 points, grabbed seven boards and dished three assists; Cierra Moss had 11 points, five rebounds and three assists; and Gabi Fenumia finished with nine points and eight rebounds.
Fenumiai was named to the all-tournament second team and Zhara Laster, who had four points and nine rebounds Tuesday, was picked for the first team.
All four of Peninsula’s sports programs have won conference championship in the past five years.
